Method and apparatus for video navigation

Abstract

A method of deriving a representation of a video sequence comprises deriving metadata expressing at least one temporal characteristic of a frame or group of frames, and one or both of metadata expressing at least one content-based characteristic of a frame or group of frames and relational metadata expressing relationships between at least one content-based characteristic of a frame or group of frames and at least one other frame or group of frames, and associating said metadata and/or relational metadata with the respective frame or group of frames.

1 . A method of deriving a representation of a video sequence comprising a plurality of frames, the method comprising deriving metadata expressing at least one temporal characteristic of a frame or group of frames, and one or both of metadata expressing at least one content-based characteristic of a frame or group of frames and relational metadata expressing relationships between at least one content-based characteristic of a frame or group of frames and at least one other frame or group of frames, and associating said metadata and/or relational metadata with the respective frame or group of frames. 
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  comprising segmenting the video sequence into groups of frames according to at least one type of temporal segmentation, wherein the temporal metadata is related to the temporal segmentation, and the content-based metadata or relational metadata is derived from respective groups of frames. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2  comprising segmenting the video sequence into groups of frames according to two or more different types of temporal segmentations, and deriving metadata and/or relational metadata for each of the different types of segmentations. 
   
   
       4 . The method of any  claim 2  or  claim 3  wherein the temporal characteristic represents the temporal segmentation. 
   
   
       5 . The method of any preceding claim wherein the temporal characteristic represents the location of the frame or group of frames in the video sequence. 
   
   
       6 . The method of any preceding claim wherein the content-based characteristics comprise one or more of visual characteristics, audio characteristics, text, keywords, people, and author. 
   
   
       7 . The method of any preceding claim wherein relational metadata uses similarity measures between metadata. 
   
   
       8 . A method of displaying a video sequence for navigation, using a representation derived using the method of any preceding claim. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising, for a first frame or group of frames, selecting at least one other frame or group of frames based on said relational metadata, or based on a relationship between respective metadata. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the first frame or group of frames is the current frame or group of frames being displayed, or the previous or successive frame or group of frames. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 9  or  claim 10  comprising selecting at least one other frame or group of frames based on a time window. 
   
   
       12 . The method of any of  claims 9  to  11  further comprising displaying a representation of said selected frame or group of frames. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12  comprising ordering the displayed representations according to one or more of time, relevance or similarity based on time, relevance or similarity based on content. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 12  or  claim 13  wherein the displayed representation comprises one or more of information regarding content, or relevance or similarity based on content, information regarding time, or relevance or similarity based on time, and information regarding metadata. 
   
   
       15 . The method of any of  claims 8  to  14  further comprising displaying options for navigation including one or more of: at least one type of temporal segmentation, at least one type of content-based characteristic, time or location in the video sequence. 
   
   
       16 . The method of any of  claims 9  to  15  further comprising displaying the selected group of frames or a group of frames including the selected frame. 
   
   
       17 . A method of navigating a video sequence, using a representation derived using the method of any of  claims 1  to  7 . 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein a video sequence is displayed using the method of any of  claims 8  to  16 . 
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 17  or  claim 18 , comprising selecting options, including, for example, at least one type of temporal segmentation, at least one type of content-based characteristic, time or location in the video sequence. 
   
   
       20 . The method of any preceding claim for two or more different video sequences, optionally omitting temporal metadata. 
   
   
       21 . A representation of a video sequence derived using the method of any of  claims 1  to  7 . 
   
   
       22 . A storage medium or storage means storing a video sequence and a representation of the video sequence derived using the method of any of  claims 1  to  7 . 
   
   
       23 . Apparatus for executing the method of any of  claims 1  to  20   
   
   
       24 . Apparatus of  claim 20  comprising one or more of a control means or processor, a storage medium or storage means, and a display. 
   
   
       25 . Apparatus of  claim 23  or  claim 24  comprising a storage medium or storage means storing at least one representation of a video sequence derived using the method of any of  claims 1  to  7 . 
   
   
       26 . Computer program for executing the method of any of  claims 1  to  20  or computer-readable storage medium storing such a computer program.